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Monday, August 2, 2010

Burning River Initial Report, The Barefoot Running Book Pre-order, and The Barefoot Book giveaway!

Burning River

Well, I finished the Burning River 100 Mile Endurance Run this weekend! While I did not meet my goal of running the entire race barefoot (I decided to wear huarache sandals after mile 33.3), I did set a 100 mile PR (27:48 or so).

It was an awesome weekend! Tons of thanks goes to my excellent crew consisting of my wife Shelly, Jesse Scott, and Barefoot Art. I met a ton of wonderful people, got to spend time with friends I don't see often, and experienced the full Burning River course. A full race report will be forthcoming, but here are a few highlights:

I wore a kilt for the entire race,

My "Mike's Hard Lemonade and chia" iskiate worked as planned,

I realized drinking 92 ounces of beer the night before a race and getting four hours of sleep is a bad idea,

I am very good at powering up hills, but equally bad at running down hills,

I need to do more back-to-back long runs to reduce the amount of walking after the half-way point,

I am capable of a pretty good kick, even at the end of a 100 miler. Thanks to Jesse's inspiration and Shelly's leadership, I managed to crank out a 12:00 pace for the last 4.8 miles, highlighted by a 6:45 sprint over the last 100 yards.

Photo courtesy Laurie Colón

The race report will be written over the course of this week and will be posted here. Check back often. :-)

In other news...

The second edition of "The Barefoot Running Book: A Practical Guide to the Art and Science of Barefoot and Minimalist Shoe Running" is almost done! I am very excited; this edition is a significant improvement over the first edition. To celebrate, I am offering it for only $9.99 + shipping and handling for about two weeks. For those that order it, the book should arrive from the printer around the last week in August. I will ship them as soon as they arrive.

That picture is awesome! Love the beard and kilt and I think getting more competitive is a fantastic idea. Would you still wear the huaraches in other races you are "racing" or would you wear KSOs?Can't wait for a full report!

Big congrats on your 100M finish! Sorry the "whole distance barefoot" thing didn't work out, but your result is still pretty darn impressive.

And if you were struggling to beat cutoffs 1/3rd into the race, and still came back that far through the field to finish 110th or so overall, you've definitely got some good 100M speed. You might not have far to go to be competitive.

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"Perhaps the genius of ultra running is its supreme lack of utility. It makes no sense in a world of space ships and supercomputers to run vast distances on foot. There is no money in it and no fame, frequently not even the approval of peers. But as poets, apostles and philosophers have insisted from the dawn of time, there is more to life than logic and common sense. The ultra runners know this instinctively. And they know something else that is lost on the sedentary. They understand, perhaps better than anyone, that the doors to the spirit will swing open with physical effort. In running such long and taxing distances they answer a call from the deepest realms of their being -- a call that asks who they are."-- David Blaikie, Ultramarathon Canada